Overcoming Discouragement: 10 Simple Ways to Stop Feeling Discouraged

One of the hardest things to get over in life must be feelings of discouragement. When you feel discouraged, it lands in your heart like lead – heavy and hard to shake off. When you feel discouraged, everything around you becomes affected too as you begin to ruminate on your past or previous experiences where you felt similar hopelessness.

In the ups and downs of life, there are many moments when we experience disappointment and discouragement. It could be a simple setback or an unexpected failure, but when you’re discouraged, your spirits can dampen, and the progress you’ve made can be hindered.

When you feel discouraged, your motivation, optimism, and even enthusiasm dwindles and in place of all these feelings, you feel doubt and negativity. Here’s an example; You’ve begun a new workout routine but have not seen any effective results. In this aspect, you’re likely to feel disappointed, and this disappointment fueled by high expectations and lack of motivation can result in feeling discouraged.

Overcoming discouragement might feel like a challenge, but know that you have the power to rise above the barriers in your way and regain your motivation and optimism. That’s what we’re exploring in this article.

Keep reading to learn the 10 effective strategies to stop feeling discouraged and regain the courage to deal with life’s many challenges!

10 Ways to Stop Feeling Discouraged

1.Revise Your Expectations

When you feel disheartened and discouraged, then take some time to revisit your expectations. More often than not, it’s our high expectations that cause us to feel discouraged when we fail to meet them. If you have unrealistic expectations, then you need to revise them and make them more realistic and achievable. Reality is different from your ideal world, and in reality, it takes a lot of trial and error to succeed.

2.Focus on Your Vision

If you’re feeling discouraged and disheartened, then focus on your vision of the future. Allow yourself to think about the things or the life you want to have in the future. Visualize it as clearly as you can. Let yourself imagine what will happen when this imaginary reality came to fruition, How would you feel? This visualization will help you feel empowered and motivated to let go of the discouragement you feel.

3.Avoid Comparison With Others

Another thing that does not help when you’re discouraged is comparing yourself with others. When you begin to compare yourself and your life with others, you allow yourself to focus on their victories or things they highlight but not what they’ve been through or the many setbacks they’ve faced. Each person’s journey is their own and letting yourself get trapped in comparison can make you feel sorry for yourself instead of motivated.

4.Cultivate Patience

Whatever your goal is, it takes time and patience. In a world where we live off of instant gratification, it can be hard to cultivate patience and wait for the good things to fall into our laps. However, if you want to stop feeling discouraged, that’s what you need to do – be patient! Know that effective results take time to form, so cultivate patience to overcome discouragement.

5.Change Your Perspective

It can be disheartening when you’re faced with situations where things don’t go according to how you want them. Focusing your attention on what you can control (hint: perspective) can help you instead of focusing on things you can’t control. If you feel discouraged, then try to think of ways you can do better or how else you can change the situation, instead of focusing on how things didn’t happen your way.

6.Prioritize Self-Care

Another way to stop feeling discouraged is to prioritize your self-care and nurture your mind and body. Try to engage in activities that make you feel good about yourself such as exercising, meditating, playing sports, or walking in a park. All these activities can help you reduce the negative thoughts stuck in your mind and make you feel motivated enough to change your thinking.

7.Learn From Your Setbacks

Feeling discouraged often comes from the setbacks you face and failures you experience. Instead of taking these setbacks as something negative, allow yourself to learn from these mistakes and failures. Reframe these setbacks as opportunities for healing and growth. Embrace these setbacks as a stepping stone for building resilience against discouragement.

8.Seek Support From Others

Another simple thing you can do when you feel discouraged is to reach out to your loved ones. Talking to a friend or a mentor can help you learn and see things from a different perspective. They can also offer encouragement and other insights that you may have missed. Allow your loved ones to give you motivation and reassurance to pass the challenges and setbacks successfully.

9.Learn New Skills

You can also focus on learning new skills and work on something new and interesting to overcome feeling discouraged. Focusing on new things and learning new skills can allow you to feel better about yourself and feel more confident in your abilities. You can also discover some hidden talents and skills this way!

10.Despite it All, Keep Going

While there may be setbacks in your life, it’s important to not lose your focus and keep going. It’s about moving forward and not giving up which can help you overcome discouragement. Try to focus on what’s in front of you, not what lies miles ahead. Taking one step at a time is what will help you become more confident and build the resilience you need to face and overcome discouragement.

Writer’s Thoughts…

Life can be chaotic and with everything happening at once, it can be hard to find time to relax. Among all the ups and downs, we’ll inevitably face some discouragement. While this is a common experience that we all go through and can hinder our healing, and growth, and even lower our spirit, with the right tools and strategies, you can learn to overcome these feelings.

Accept your emotions, allow yourself to reach out for social support, and challenge your negative thoughts to break free from discouragement and cement resilience. Keep in mind that setbacks are only temporary and every obstacle you face can be overcome.

I hope this article helped you learn what to do when you feel discouraged and how to overcome feeling discouraged.

Let me know how you overcome feeling discouraged in the comments below.

Take Care!